Working for the weekend

I will take an hour long pelvic and abdominal MRI over a 30 minute brain MRI any day of the week.  I went in pretty relaxed and was excited when the tech mentioned it would take half an hour.  She set up the table and this time I would be going in head first.  I laid down, situating my head in a plastic cradle.  The tech gave me the panic button and a blanket, the room was freezing.  When the table was raised up to the machine she moved a plastic cage down to encompass my head.  There was a small mirror above my eyes that allowed me to see down towards my feet.  I could see the techs through the observation window as well.

It was similar to this image, minus the eye gear and wires.

No big cushy headphones playing jazz to drown out the excessive noise this time.  Instead there were squishy earplugs, small headphone pads, and another set of pads that slid into the cage to hold the headphones in place.  This time I got a random pop music station.  The music selection did not really matter, it was impossible to hear anything once the machine got going.  They did the first round of scans, then brought me out to inject the contrast.  Then it was back into the tube for the second round of scans.  It felt so much longer than my other MRI.  Somehow I was able to stay still and not freak out.  Dave said I looked incredibly pale when coming out to the waiting room.  I had a massive headache and generally felt like crap.  We headed home to relax a bit.  

After some coffee, excedrin, and showers we headed up north.  We had lunch with Dave's parents at a great little Irish pub.  Nothing like some Shepard's Pie to warm you up on a chilly day.  It was a nice lunch and my headache had died down by the end of the meal.

Now it was time for the main event of the day.  Our friends J and C recently purchased their first home so we were heading over for a housewarming party.  For their gift I put together a cute basket with an OXO pop top cookie jar filled with chocolate chip cookies and Reese's PB cup brownie bites, a set of funky glasses, and a few dish towels.  

It was an awesome party!  Their house is a cute split level on a nice quiet street.  They also adopted a puppy, an adorable little retriever terrier mix named Daisy.  She was a total sweetheart and Dave wanted to steal her.  We drank beer, caught up with everyone, played horse shoes, and enjoyed a nice bonfire as the sun set.  

Being there reaffirmed what a great choice it was to leave my theater job.  I would have been stuck doing a two show day had I declined that job offer.  While it was fun at the time, that career path would have left me a miserable person.  Our lifestyle and hopes for our future family are so much brighter now.  I'm glad to have had that experience and made some amazing friends, but it would have made life with children with very difficult. 

We got home really late thanks to construction on the Parkway.  Nothing like bringing a five lane highway down to one lane.  We slept in late and had a nice lazy Sunday at home.  Our friend J came over for some wine and board games.  All in all it was a perfect weekend, minus the MRI of course.